Carnage resulted from ‘date’ arranged over app “going badly”
The extraordinary story of an African man discovered decapitated on Wednesday morning in Lisbon’s Baixa district seems to have been wrapped up, by the alleged murderer himself.
The young man, also African, walked into busy S. José Hospital yesterday afternoon, transporting the head, wrapped in tin foil, in a rucksack.
He is reported to have approached hospital staff to tell them that inside the rucksack he had the head of the corpse found in Pátio do Salema the day before.
Askance, staff called PSP police who have a post in the hospital, and these ‘took charge of the incident’.
At the time, the young man’s story was that he had “nothing to do with the crime”, explains Expresso. But during questioning by detectives investigating the case, the 29-year-old reportedly admitted that he had, in fact, committed it – and that it all played out in Pátio do Salema (which goes against initial reports that there was not enough blood at the scene to suggest that the crime took place there).
The bizarre punch line of this horrific crime, is that the alleged killer’s motives “were futile”, in the words of today’s reports.
Expresso explains the men did not even know each other. They had only just met on the basis of a ‘date’ arranged over an online app – and whatever happened between them led to the younger man decapitating the slightly older man.
Police had managed to ascertain the victim’s identity before the young man delivered the head to S. José hospital. It has not been made public this far. Suffice it to say that he was 34, and in this country legally.
In the course of yesterday’s questioning, police are understood to have taken possession of the knife involved in the dismemberment, and ‘other objects’.
The suspect is due to appear before a judge for a decision on bail (which will almost certainly be denied), although this is unlikely to take place today, writes Expresso. The young man faces charges of aggravated murder, the profaning of a corpse, and possession of an illegal weapon.
An autopsy on the victim has still to take place (albeit it is fairly clear what caused his death). Correio da Manhã has stressed that the head showed no signs of bullet wounds, or any other injuries (other than the fact that it had been sliced from the victim’s body).
Again, contrary to earlier hypotheses floated, this crime does not appear to have had anything to do with ‘a battle for supremacy over drug trafficking in the area’. It simply occurred in an area where drug-trafficking, drug-taking and other crimes are commonplace.
Source material: Expresso/ Correio da Manhã
